10 of the Fastest Growing Languages in Canada
Canada is a very diverse country, with significant minority populations speaking a plethora of languages and a large minority speaking Quebecois French. Many of the languages emerging in Canada are the languages of the future, and translation services can benefit the speakers, students, and businesses looking to serve the population.
What is the fastest growing language in Canada?
The answer to this question seems to change all the time, but we can get a pretty good idea of which languages are leading the pack by looking at census data.
In Canada, most of the fastest growing languages are from Asia, particularly South Asia.
Here are ten of the languages that are growing the fastest in Canada:
Punjabi
- 530,000 speakers in Canada
- Over one hundred million speakers worldwide
The fastest growing language in Canada is Punjabi, a language from parts of both Pakistan and India. Punjabi speakers also have a significant diaspora in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Between 2016 and 2021, the number of Punjabi speakers grew by hundreds of thousands of people, or 49%.
In Canada, over five hundred thousand people speak Punjabi. That’s more people than the entire city of Halifax!
Tagalog
- About 280,000 speakers in Canada (as of 2011)
- 82 million speakers worldwide
Our next entry, Tagalog, hails from the South East Asian country of the Philippines. Tagalog was previously the fastest growing language in Canada and is still considered to be a language of the future. Vancouver, B.C., alone is home to around fifty thousand speakers.
*Fun fact: Spanish speakers may recognize some shared vocabulary when listening to Tagalog, as Spanish colonization shaped the language into what it is today.
In addition to Tagalog, there are several other languages that Filipino immigrants have brought with them to Canada. These languages include:
Mandarin
- Over five hundred million speakers across Canada
- More than one billion speakers worldwide
Mandarin is one of China’s largest languages and is used by over a billion people on the planet, it is predominantly spoken in the Northern part of China, with Cantonese being spoken by natives of South China.
Along with Cantonese, Mandarin is a primary language spoken by Chinese Canadians, of which there are almost two million.
Farsi
- Approximately seventy thousand speakers in Vancouver alone
- One hundred ten million speakers in the world
Farsi, or “Persian,” as many call it, is the native language of the people of Iran. Farsi also has a significant presence in both Western Asia and Eastern Europe.
There are about a hundred thousand Iranian Canadians in the Toronto area alone. Iranian Canadians are also well represented in other large metro areas such as Vancouver and Montreal.
Hindi
- Over a hundred thirty speakers in Canada
- Six hundred fifteen million speakers worldwide
While India is home to a huge number of languages, Hindi is by far its largest. Over forty-three percent of the country speaks Hindi, which is followed by other major languages like Tamil and Bengali.
Canada contains India’s seventh-largest diaspora, making up over five percent of Canada’s entire population. Over a million Indian-Canadians have knowledge of the Hindi language.
Cantonese
- About four hundred thousand speakers in Canada
- Sixty million speakers worldwide
Although not spoken nearly as much as Mandarin Chinese, this Southern Chinese language is still spoken by a large population in Canada. Cantonese is also the primary language spoken in the major hub of Hong Kong.
Cantonese is the second most spoken language amongst Chinese Canadians, behind Mandarin. Still, with two million Chinese Canadians, there are a lot of Cantonese speakers in Canada.
Urdu
- Two hundred ten thousand speakers in Canada
- Eighty-seven million speakers worldwide
Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and a commonly spoken language in many other countries, including Nepal, India, and Canada. There are over two hundred thousand Urdu speakers in Canada.
The majority of Pakistani Canadians call the Toronto area home, but they also have large populations of Urdu speakers in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec. There are also some Canadians of Indian descent whose mother tongue is Urdu.
Korean
- 150,000 speakers in Canada
- 79 million speakers around the world
The Korean language is growing quickly in Canada and has a vast amount of speakers all over the world. Canada is home to the second-largest diaspora of Koreans outside of Asia. You’re most likely to hear Korean spoken in Koreatown, Toronto, but Korean Canadians are present throughout all of Canada.
Arabic
- Almost seven hundred thousand speakers in Canada speak Arabic as native language
- Around a third of a billion speakers worldwide
One of the top languages spoken by Canadians (outside of French and English), is Arabic. While it is not growing at the rate of Punjabi, for example, it is spoken by a large amount of the Canadian population.
Arabic speakers come from all over the Arabic-speaking world and you can find hundreds of thousands of them throughout the country.
Japanese
- One hundred twenty-one thousand Japanese speakers in Canada
- One hundred twenty million speakers worldwide
Though only spoken by about a hundred thousand Canadians, Japanese is one of the fastest growing languages in the nation.
Western Canada, particularly British Columbia, is home to the largest concentration of Japanese Canadians. Vancouver is only a nine-hour flight from Tokyo, one of the planet’s largest cities and an important business center.
What is the language of the future?
This a question many of us are asking.
In Canada, there are many “languages of the future” that are growing at astonishing rates as our world and country become more and more international.
Business in Canada is still done largely in English and in French. Still, with the rise of certain languages, like Punjabi and Tagalog, there are opportunities that using a translation service can help to unlock.
There are many reasons to use a translation service in Canada. Whether your goal is community outreach, translating international personal documents, or business, it’s important to go with professionals who understand the various complexities of the many languages you might encounter in Canada.
